The Cell 2
(2009/New Line/Warner Blu-ray + DVD)
Picture:
C/C-/D Sound: C-/D Extras: D Film: D
Why does
a completely original story that has become an underground hit, always have to
have a sequel? The sequels are never
good, they tend to alienate the fans, and do very little business. In the end it hardly seems worth it. Recently we have seen quite a few titles that
fit that bill and the newest release being a straight to DVD sequel to The Cell. The wonderfully titled, belated Cell 2 is a complete insult to the
original. Director Tarsem created a
visually stunning psychological thriller that far exceeded anything it should
have been. That cannot be re-created,
and yet someone thought it was worth a try. How wrong. This is an awful mess of a movie that has no
redeeming qualities at all.
Frank
Whaley who has had some very good and memorable performances in his career,
should not have to slump to a low such as this. He is a complete waste of talent here. Director Tim Iacofano, who has prior work on
TV’s 24 and served as a
producer, has no experience directing a full length feature. I wonder if this was just a practice run, as
it really does not seem like he even tried. This film just undermines the originality of a
brilliant movie.
The 1080p 1.78 X 1 digital High Definition picture is in the middle somewhere. Shots go back and forth from clear, to quite
distorted with is very little balance, to continuing scenes. The attempt to use colors like the original
also massively fails. This causes a very
odd look overall to the movie, which really does not help visually, made worse
on the widescreen version on DVD, while the pan & scan 1.33 version is a
throwaway disaster. But then after all, the cinematographer’s last movie
was Daddy Day Camp. Enough said. The Dolby TrueHD 5.1 is
incredibly poor. The effect sounds, as
well as dialogue are frequently very loud and not evenly maintained throughout
the course of a scene. It is extremely
annoying when they try to blast you out and then the next scene you can barely
hear. Playing with the volume button is
not something I like doing while watching a movie.
The one feature on the disc is a joke of a behind the scenes feature. I would be surprised if anyone actually wanted
to watch this, and even more surprised if they finished it. Everyone
trying to explain why the movie is so bad, without acknowledging how bad it
truly is, is quite a joke.
Final word: wait for the original Cell
to hit Blu-ray and watch that instead.
- Nate Rutkus
